Change your mind?

Iíve been thinking how great it must be to have a mind that is flexible as opposed to solid and unmoving. This is because a solid mind can be broken by experiences that a flexible mind would not.

On the other hand being too flexible could reduce the capacity for strength and concentration when needed, so perhaps the key once again is balance.

If this is not what you already have, is it something you want to become and how would you go about doing it. If this is you (i.e. you have been able to change your mind for the better), how did you do it? What was step one?

I can't give advice on how to have a flexible mind, I just do. There are very few things, if any, that I have rigid, black and white views on. I guess I can see the pros and cons of most things, and that of course makes choices much more difficult. I'd say I'm probably on the opposite end of the spectrum as you, aquarius, as it's not uncommon for me to change my opinion on something multiple times a week (like, say, my thoughts on the philosophical value of black metal). I'd not recommend that, though, as it leads to quite a bit of mental tumult. Maybe the averages of my views will set with time, and I'll be a bit more stable in my beliefs.

I'd also like to second what crow said. If anything, it's rare that I consider myself to be correct.

Sometimes flexibility is needed, and sometimes it's right to be firm, so I'll say that balance is the key.

Balance alone won't do it, though. After all, it's not just important to be firm sometimes, and flexible others. You need to be so at the right times. This requires intuition.

Intuition is the basic 'feel' for reality, that is, the relationship between the mind and that which is bigger than the mind. Being in line with reality is basically knowing when you are right and when you are wrong, hence knowing when you need to change your mind and when you don't.

Actually, this is more like 'knowing before you know', or what some people call not-knowing. Not-knowing is intuition, intuition is balance and balance is knowledge of right and wrong.

In the end it all comes down to listening to reality, that is: Withdrawn observation. The one who knows how to observe will know when to participate in a balanced way. If there's anything like 'perfect knowledge', that is it.

Really, it's about adaptability, which is the key to balance. This is one of the glaring flaws of leftism, which actively encourages people to never adapt again, let alone develop. Watch a leftist move, and you'll easily see the lumbering, awkward lack of balance and grace. How you see yourself in relation to reality is the key to health and the start of wisdom. Which is the polar opposite of seeing an external world in relation to yourself.

Everything changes, moment by moment. It is a good idea to remember that so must you.

This is why being aware of your breathing is elementary. The rhythm and the flow of air follows you around always - so you should of course also be with it. If you are not with your breathing, then you are not with yourself.

It is true: Most people want the world to adapt to them, and feel that the key to contentment and a 'better world' (whatever that means) is some sort of revolutionary change. They want the order of life turned upside down, so the world can adapt to their ideas.

They should be focussing on their breathing instead. Nothing else.

Then maybe - just maybe - they would slowly become aware that they had been demanding the world to adapt to them, when in fact they themselves didn't even know how to adapt to their own body. And then start all over with a more humble approach to life and the world.

Breathing, yes. People ridicule this idea, never having been aware of what it can do or how far it can go. There comes a point, when attention is paid to conscious-breathing, where one is no longer consciously breathing, but is conscious of being-breathed. This state is the beginning of ego-death. The point at which one becomes aware of being a part of something far greater than oneself.

I had to figure this out for myself. There is no reason anybody couldn't do it, but a conducive environment really, really helps. I doubt it could be successfully taught.

If you don't have perfect pitch, get a tuning fork and learn the pitch of "A" - 440 hz. This pitch, and its lower octaves, will come in very useful for background chanting, either silently or aloud. The idea of chanting sounded stupid to me, too, until I found out - by doing - that "Om" as in "Auuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..." is the perfect resonant exhale, especially at 440 hz.

There's some suspicious pseudo-science in there, but the descriptions of the changes produced by that frequency are accurate. I decided to tune my instruments down to that and it definitely had a positive effect.